The Duellist's Pocketbook (A brief guide to the game)

Hey guys, BinaryBob here. I’ve decided to write up a short guide that encompasses what I’ve seen so far in the game. This guide is not entirely complete, but I hope that you find it useful.

Much of this same knowledge can be found here so feel free to check it out. ^.^

Basics of Duelling

Greetings, swordsman. As you find yourself in this brave new world, you’ll find many rivals to duel. Fame and glory can be yours, but only if you know what you’re doing. The tutorial may have explained quite a few things, but let me go over your options in a slight bit more detail.

First, remember that all combatants take their turn simultaneously. A turn consists of two main parts: Movement and Action.

Movement: You may choose to move your character within a certain radius of where you stand (hotkey Q), which is mostly constant based on your Agility stat though it can be temporarily reduced through the “Blinding Dust” skill from the Thief tree.

Important: If you choose NOT to move during your turn, you will regenerate an extra Energy Point. Keep that in mind.

Action: You may also take one action during your turn, though you do not have to (in case you suspect the enemy is going to try a counterattack skill). A brief explanation of the three types of actions available to you:

(1) You may perform a standard attack with your weapon (hotkey W). These attacks swing in an arc towards a direction of your choice. How wide and long this arc is depends on your class.

(2) You may use one of your Class Skills (hotkeys 1-8, explained later on).

(3) You may charge your Energy Points (hotkey E). If you use this option, you cannot move during the same turn. The net effect of this option is +5 EP (1 from natural regen, 1 from not moving, and 3 from the charge).

If you make a mistake, you can reset your Movements and Actions from the main turn menu. This reset button is on the far right side (hotkey R). Remember you only have 15 seconds to commit to something though, so if you reset once you should make sure you don’t mess up your turn again. Once all combatants have accepted their Movements and Actions (hotkey C) or the turn timer runs out, the action unfolds!

Attacks have priorities; some attacks will dominate others, but on occasion you may get two attacks equal in priority. If the priorities are tied, then you begin a clash minigame which involves clicking five circles as rings shrink around them. To get the best score, click the circle just as the ring meets the circle (if you are lagging, the timing may be a bit before the ring actually meets each circle). Whoever gets the best total score wins the clash and their attack goes through. In the rare event your clash scores are tied, then nothing happens.

At the end of each turn, all combatants naturally regenerate 1 Energy Point (up to the cap of 10). As mentioned above, opting not to move in a turn will regenerate an extra point.

This is a mostly complete Priority List so that people know how their skills will match up with others:

Priority 0: War Cry, Aura of Protection. (Possibly Caltrops?)
These skills do not damage an enemy directly so anything the enemy hits you with will connect. Also, buffs can fail to activate for one of a few reasons: If the opponent tried a counterattack skill, inflicted some status on you (Stun, Poison, Bleed, Blind), or connected with a Fury attack.

Priority 1: Standard attacks.
A direct hit in the red area always dominates a glancing blow in the yellow (and deals more damage as well), but otherwise two standard attacks will result in a clash minigame.

Priority 2: Broad Strike, Heavy Slash, Poison Blade, Tri-Cut, Open Wound, Earthquake, Blinding Dust.
A glancing blow from these skills will beat a direct hit from a standard attack. Direct hits in the red still beat glancing blows in the yellow for skills on the same priority level, but unlike standard attacks, skills won’t deal more damage with direct hits. Note that Earthquake has no direct hit zone — it will clash with glancing blows from other skills on this level.

Priority 4: Class Fury attacks, e.g., Berserker Fury, Eternal Punishment, etc.
These skills are both powerful and rank higher than most in priority. It’s a huge risk to attempt but it can pay off quite well. All Fury attacks are on the same priority level, though Tier 3 classes have slightly stronger versions over Tier 2.

Priority 5: Tsubame Gaeshi, Shield Cover, Ninja Vanish
I have not seen anything to date that can beat the Samurai’s counter. It will even attack a Warrior that uses Counterattack! Likewise, Shield Cover will block anything, including the ultimate Fury attacks from a class. Ninja Vanish will do practically the same thing as Shield Cover with the extra bonus of hiding your movements for the turn.

Common Strategies

During battle, you’ll want to know how to do a few things well:

First, know how to space yourself from your enemy, especially if you’re playing a Warrior tree class. This can help keep you from straying too close to your foe, which can be brutal if you’re going up against a Thief class (due to their Stun Kick and very wide attack ranges). It may occasionally be worth it to not use your maximum movement radius when chasing (or being chased by) the enemy, on the offchance they blunder into one of your attacks this way or reach a point where they think they’re safe and can rest to regen EP while still being within your attack range.

Second, manage your EP well. If you don’t, you’ll end up being chased down when you can’t do any skills and eventually get knocked out by attacks you can’t beat. If given a chance to safely recharge EP, I’d take it. Sometimes I’d even risk a hit from the enemy just to restore my EP and have more options.

Third, figure out what your opponent is likely to do with their turn. Put yourself in their shoes, and pretend that you’re them for a few seconds. How would you act as them, with their current EP and position? Chances are they might do just what you thought they would do. If you’re a quick thinker, try to set up the opponent’s next turn as well.

The Warrior class wields a slightly longer sword; as such, they will tend to use this small range increase to their advantage whenever possible. Warriors also possess a counterattack that may make their movements unpredictable at times.

The Thief class wields a dagger best suited for close combat. While their attack range is noticeably shorter, Thieves move faster, attack in a wider angle, and focus on shutting down the enemy with their Blinding Dust and Stun Kick skills.

The Samurai class is trained in the art of the counterattack. As such, he can quite painfully counter everything you can throw at him. His close-range skills can also create a deadly combo, making him an intimidating character to face.

Learning Class Skills

Each class has skills to learn, which requires certain levels and spending a certain amount of Gold. Skills can be used during battle with Energy Points, and these skills can end up being quite powerful (I’ve even been one-hit by some of these skills). Making careful use of EP at the critical junctions of battles can lead to victory!

The number of skills you can take into battle is limited. You can increase this number either by levelling up or by paying some money to buy these slots (of course, it helps to buy the skills first to fill these slots with).

Note that a class can use the skills of all classes leading up to it. For example, the Knight can use Novice, Warrior, and Knight skills. A Knight cannot use any skills from the Thief tree or the Samurai skillset.

Counterattack (1200 Gold) – 5 EP: If the opponent would successfully hit you this turn, negate that attack and deal damage to them.
War Cry (1500 Gold) – 3 EP: Buffs your damage by 1.5x for the next three turns. (Note: There is currently a glitch which prevents this buff if the opponent counterattacks.)
Berserker Fury (2000 Gold, requires level 10) – 10 EP: The ultimate Warrior skill which deals high damage!

Thief Skills

Stun Kick (1200 Gold) – 5 EP: This attack has a complete 360 degree radius around you, and if the attack connects, the opponent cannot Move next turn. Will beat standard attacks and Novice skills. Equal in priority to Counterattack.
Blinding Dust (1500 Gold) – 3 EP: If it connects, it will debuff the enemy’s movement and attack ranges by a rather significant amount for the next 3 turns.
Dagger Fury (2000 Gold, assuming level 10 is required) – 10 EP: The ultimate Thief skill which deals high damage!

Tri-Cut (3000 Gold) – 4 EP: A weak attack which inflicts Bleed on an opponent for 3 turns. Bleed will cause minor HP loss at the end of each turn. Best used to set up for the next skill.
Open Wound (3000 Gold) – 5 EP: An attack equal in priority to the Novice Skills, and deals normal damage unless the enemy is bleeding, in which case it is far more dangerous.
Tsubame Gaeshi (3000 Gold, requires level 22) – 8 EP: This skill counters everything I’ve seen so far that can deal damage.
Samurai Fury (4000 Gold, requires level 27) – 10 EP: The ultimate Samurai skill which deals high damage!

Ninja Vanish (3000 Gold) – 5 EP: Your movement this turn is hidden and you cannot be hit.
Caltrops (3000 Gold) – 5 EP: Throws some spikes on the ground to deter enemy movement; if the enemy moves onto these caltrops, they will take 40 damage. These spikes remain for three turns.
Ninja Decoy (3000 Gold, requires level 22) – 5 EP: Teleports you to a random location in the arena, and also spawns two illusions to confuse the opponent. These illusions remain for that turn only, and disappear after the next turn.
Shadow Fury (4000 Gold, requires level 27) – 10 EP: The ultimate Ninja skill which deals high damage!

Friends and Fame

At the beginning, everybody starts out as a lowly Novice. To make your mark in the world of Dueling Blades, you depend on the friends you make along the way. Some become your greatest allies; others, your greatest rivals. A good duelist, however, knows that even their fiercest rival is still a friend in a time of need.

Your friends list is conveniently placed at the bottom of the village menu. This will show all of your Kongregate friends that play the game (and whether or not they’re online). If you are not one to add people to your Kongregate friends list, do not fret — people that have added you will also show up in your list as they log on!

Note that the “Invite Friends” box in-game only sends invites to players, many of whom typically ignore such invites. I am fairly certain that you must follow people on Kongregate (or have them follow you) to complete the friend-based missions anyways.

Adding new Kongregate friends is a simple task. You can click their username in the chat panel to be presented with a miniature version of their profile page, or you can view full profiles on the website. In either case, there is a “Follow” link you can click to add that user to your friends list.

Once someone is on your in-game friends list, you can click on their name in this list to see two options:

• First, you may send them a gift of 1 AP once every 24 hours.
• Second, you may send them a PvP challenge if they are online and not currently in a battle.

To rise up in the ranks of Dueling Blades, you will need to fight (and win) many battles. The more the levels are stacked against you, the more rewards you stand to gain for winning. If you are curious where you stand in the world, there is a leaderboard located at the Headquarters building in the village.

There are currently three functional ranking lists: Friends, Weekly, and World. League is not in the game at this time.

• The Friends rankings show you how you stack up with all of your in-game friends. This list is sorted by total BP earned.
• The Weekly rankings show where you are in terms of BP gain for the week. This list is sorted by BP earned this week.
• The World rankings show the all-time leaders among all players. This list is sorted by total BP earned.

You may note that your name located above the rankings lists and your name listed in World rankings differ a bit in win rates. Names in the World list seem to only use PvP battles whereas the name at the top of the list that you see uses all battles (PvP and PvE).

Well, I was going off of the rankings that the devs had on their site for that particular section. I will agree they’re pretty darn close however, equal at a few different levels even. I think the main reason that Samurai was placed at 4 stars instead of 5 was because it was marginally slower in growing in Strength.

I may re-evaluate this on my own time later on and give them my own rankings instead of being lazy. =P

the samurai and ninja have equal strength, you have it as the ninja being stronger.

I’ve made my own experiments and i realized that fundamentaly, the only differences beetween classes is their array of equipable gears and skills, and also their attack fan.

Stat differences are only conditionned by the Class Tree and you based your chart on the typical player’s progession pattern. But anyone can be creative and open-up other branches to start customizing a little their character (at the condition to willingly waste one stat upgrade point).

So beating up players with the Novice isn’t too far off fighting as a naked Tier 3 class ^^.

So one thing i noticed is that i was able to unlock both ninja and rogue class. I can only use the abilities of those classes if i have that class equipped, though you can use all abilities learned from the lower classes I.E. thief and novice. I’m wondering if i can take the stats upgrade path of both these lines an have them apply to my character or if they will only apply if i have that class equipped like with the skills. Figure id ask this in hear since it would help add more customization to classes a little and be a nice thing to point out if it works.

For replying to WayoftheToad, Yes. Stats bought on the Class Tree are permanant regarless the class you set. It would be nice if on future updates we have a more complexified tree for added customization (i don’t expect FFX Sphere Grid level of depth but who knows!).

Also, i forgot to note that BinaryBob in his class sheet also took on account the stat boosts bestowed by equipments of each classes. For exemple, it’s the reason Samurais have better agility than Knights, but it’s also agreed that Ninjas & Samurais have almost equel strength.

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